Illegal Equipment

[lonnieritch1981]

Guys, my physical residence is in The State of Texas, but when it comes to football rules I often move to The State of Confusion.  I'm sure it's simple, but my brain is having problems dealing with how we officiate a play when we observe a failure by a player to wear proper equipment, e.g., not wearing a mouthpiece, or having a back-pad exposed, etc.  I assume (oh, you know what happens when we do that) we let the play run, warn the player and if he doesn't comply then stop the clock, send him to the sidelines with that team replacing him.  I know it's not a foul, but a violation.  In days gone by (many of them, by the way) we used to stop the clock and charge that team with a TO.  Some clarification for my weary brain would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

[dammitbobby]

I think what you described is the generally accepted practice.  However, for mouthpieces, subvarsity and below I'm yelling at them to put their mouthpieces in.  For varsity, they should know, and that's on them.  Other than that, in my experience at least, a reminder gets immediate compliance.  It would have to be a pretty severe (or repeated multiple times) equipment violation for me to stop the clock and send them off.  And if that ever did happen, I'm confident the coach would take care of it immediately (and probably take care of me officiating his games in the future as well.)

[ElvisLives]

1-3-8 gives the details you request. Whether a player actually participates either without required equipment or with illegal equipment, when the 'violation' is observed, that player is to be sent off the field and may not participate in the next down, unless his team 'buys' him back into the game with a charged team time out. If the equipment issue is noticed while the ball is alive, no, we don't send him off the field while the ball is alive. We wait until the down is over, then send him off WITHOUT interrupting the game. He may not return to the game until he has all required equipment, and no illegal equipment, and has 'sat out' at least one down (unless his team takes a time out).
If he refuses to leave and correct the problem, then the R can take whatever action he deems appropriate, like charging a time out. If the non-compliance and unsportsmanlike conduct persist, then go with UNS on the player. If he continues his insolence, then hit him with another UNS, and wave goodbye to him as you have him escorted off the field by security.

[Legacy Zebra]

Don’t stop the clock to send somebody off for equipment violations. Just send him off. But give him a chance to fix it, even in varsity games. “Hey 29, put your mouthpiece in.” “11, help 4 cover his back pad.” Remember that if it becomes illegal through play, he doesn’t have to go out. So if if you don’t see how his equipment became illegal, just make him fix it.


And the book offers no rule support to charging a timeout. If you send him off and he tries to come back without fixing it or you see it again later, send him off again. If he says something to you or blatantly ignores you, you could construe that as unsportsmanlike conduct. But it would be UNS for whatever interaction occurs between the player and official just like any other UNS. There is no support for UNS just for repeatedly having illegal equipment.

But the best way to prevent even worrying about this is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Check uniforms in warmups. Every time out, look at the players in the huddle and fix any issues. Kickoffs are another great chance to fix uniform issues. Tell your back judge to not give the kicker the ball until everybody’s uniform is legal. Work to not send players off if you don’t have to.

[ElvisLives]

And the book offers no rule support to charging a timeout. If you send him off and he tries to come back without fixing it or you see it again later, send him off again. If he says something to you or blatantly ignores you, you could construe that as unsportsmanlike conduct. But it would be UNS for whatever interaction occurs between the player and official just like any other UNS. There is no support for UNS just for repeatedly having illegal equipment.

Not specifically, that is correct. But, 9-2-3-c gives the R the authority to take any action he thinks is equitable for unfair acts that are not specifically covered by the rules. A player refusing to obey a directive of the referee, IMHO, qualifies as such an unfair act. Considering that a foul under 9-2-2-f (cleats too long - a form of illegal equipment) includes a time-out as part of the penalty would, IMHO, be precedent for charging a T/O to the offending team in the case of a deliberately defiant player. Continued defiance would then elevate to a UNS.
Good news: Not likely to happen in my remaining lifetime.